Glimpses 6
by SandraS
Summary: A collection of short – sometimes very short – episode-tags for Season 6
1. Borrowed Time

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

Author's note: * = quote from 6.01 – Borrowed Time

* * *

Borrowed Time

* * *

" _But it doesn't have to be."*_

Only a few words but they hit Rebecca like a blow. Hit her harder than admitting to herself that Burke is probably right and Neal being kidnapped may have been her fault. As a matter of fact – knowing Booth she is darn sure it is her fault. But so are many other things. What breaks through her defenses is not Burke pointing out her being responsible – she has no use for guilt, never had – but offering her absolution.

" _I'll fix this for you."*_

It is something no one has ever done for her before.

Her parents had been firm believers that you only learned by cleaning up what you messed up – literally as well as figuratively. She never went to one school long enough to get picked as a teacher's favorite. The supervisors at MI6 expected her to handle mistakes on her own. So basically all her life she has been taught to trust only in herself and that looking for help was weak. All her life she has trained herself to not care who gets hurt through her fault. And here was Burke, offering her to make everything all right.

She cannot stop thinking about it.

Sitting in the holding cell Burke's words keep repeating and repeating themselves in her head.

" _I will, however, offer you an opportunity."*_

An opportunity. He had done what no one had ever done and given her an opportunity: To do something good. Not for personal gain but for someone she loves. And it is...

Deep down, she thinks, she has always known that people like her either end up behind bars or dead. And she is pretty sure she can break out of any prison, eventually. Or even that a breakout might be staged for her. She has a very specific skill set, after all … and if people with power find themselves in need they always find justification to ignore the rules. So up to today she has regarded her situation more as 'biding her time' than an endpoint.

Now though … what else can there be, after this?

She is glad she gets to see Neal one last time before they move her. Neal, the love she never hoped to find. She doesn't think he gets EVERYTHING she's trying to tell him, doesn't have it in him to understand why she thinks this is as close to a happy ending not only they but SHE will ever get … and she loves him all the more for that.

She did something good and Burke made everything all right. Now there's only left to ensure no one from her past or future will ever threaten Neal to make her do what they want.

" _Both of us would do whatever it takes for the people we love."*_

Rebecca doesn't intend to live as she makes a grab for her guard's gun.


	2. Return To Sender

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Return To Sender

* * *

"Told you you can pull off posing as Neal's father, Peter."

"Yeah. Thanks to a newspaper stand selling reading glasses, Neal's absurd fascination with vintage hats and toothpaste to dye my temples white. By the way, Jones, why on earth DO we have toothpaste in the van?"

"Uh, that would be Jeff's."

…

"Well, and?"

"He … kind of really, really likes garlic."

"... yeah?"

"Diana really, really doesn't. In the van."

"Oooh."

"Yeah."


	3. Uncontrolled Variables

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Uncontrolled Variables

* * *

Neal knows he shouldn't listen. This is KELLER, after all. Who – for all his blue collar attitude – is a master of manipulation. Of influence. Of getting to you so you start to make mistakes.

The Pink Panthers are a legend as well as legendary dangerous but at the end of the day they are just men with the limitations of men. They are no mob bosses with huge loyal organizations at their beck and call. They are thieves. Who might have money stashed away but once they are behind bars their reach will be restricted – and just the fact that they got caught will take away much of the magic for their admirers.

No, Keller's dark predictions serve only one purpose: to keep Neal on his toes, to throw him off balance, to manipulate him into playing along with Keller's games. And of course belittle his plans for freedom and taint his anticipation of the time after the anklet. He's petty like that. Neal KNOWS this.

But Hagen has finally driven home to Neal that helping to lock away criminals puts you at risk of them seeking revenge not only on you but also on those you love. Painfully.

So he can't help thinking of Mozzie, of June, of Peter and Elizabeth and their child.

Can't help thinking … what if Keller's _RIGHT_?


	4. All's Fair

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

All's Fair

* * *

" _We fed the algorithm from the Exodus file into the computer."_ Diana Berrigan, White Collar 6.04 – All's Fair

* * *

It was such an innocent call.

"Hey, Berrigan from White Collar here, we need one of you tech guy to feed something into the computer."

What it ended up being was manually scanning the PRINTOUT of an algorithm the length of a whole conference table including running a OCR software and then double-checking the whole thing line by line against the original, because of course the software tended – as these things happened to do – to mistake I for one and other such things... All in all occupying three people for longer than anyone was looking forward to explaining.

Let's just say it was a very disgruntled IT department that sent a flash drive back upstairs.

(And luckily they never learned that Mozzie cheerfully carried the old computer equipment _with a perfectly good copy of the algorithm on it_ out of Peter's house...)


	5. Whack-A-Mole

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Whack-A-Mole

* * *

 _Then..._

Though hardly anyone ever noticed Diana and Jones hit a rough patch at first after she had returned from D.C. to the New York White Collar division again. They used to work well together – still did, actually – but on a more personal level their relationship now wasn't without some conflicting emotions. Jones could tell that Diana was privy to things Peters kept from him – probably things to do with Caffrey and the murder of his girlfriend – and it stung a little. Diana, on the other hand, saw how well-liked and respected Jones was in the office by now and – since he had worked a lot more cases with them than she did – also felt like he had an advantage over her understanding the dynamics between Peter and Caffrey. So, while Peter was fighting hard to get his CI back, they spent a couple of weeks feeling their way around each other and testing out their relative positions in the office … and both were trying really hard not to make it a competition for Peter's regard. Until, the Wednesday before Caffrey was scheduled to get his anklet back, Jones found Diana standing in front of the little kitchenette, staring down at an apple and a small container with berries.

Getting a plate for himself Jones cleared his throat.

"Problem?"

Diana gave him a quick glance and then half-shrugged.

"Sort of. I kind of want that apple but the berries won't keep till tomorrow and I don't want to waste them."

"Well, eat them both, then."

"That would be too much, Christie and I are going out tonight."

"So … eat the berries now and the apple tomorrow."

"Yeah..."

"But?"

Diana suddenly laughed, slightly embarrassed. "I just kind of REALLY want some apple now."

"I see." And the next words were out before Jones had really thought them through. "Tell you what, you take as much apple and berries as you like and I'll eat the rest."

They both paused, looking at each other. Then Diana snorted.

"Yeah, sure. You are just hoping for a free snack."

"Caught me." Jones grinned and shrugged nonchalantly. "But what do you say I'll bring some fruit tomorrow as compensation?"

Again their eyes met and after a few heartbeats Diana smiled.

"Deal."

* * *

 _Now..._

Usually – if they are not in a meeting or too busy or out on a stakeout or something – it is Diana who stands first, eyes still on her monitor, before wandering over to the kitchenette. She has two bowls down from the cupboards and is fishing spoons out of the drawer by the time Jones arrives beside her and gets the fruits one of them brought (since what had begun sort of by accident several years ago was by now such an established thing that not even Diana's maternity leave could interrupt their rhythm), dividing them equally. Meanwhile Diana refills their cups with coffee, smoothly hands his over and next pulls her bowl aside to add granola. By the time they have fixed the rest of their respective snack to their liking Peter will have drifted down from his office, trading milk for the coffee with Neal (until their resident conman switches to soy which Peter finds disgusting). The two of them normally stand, leaning against the kitchenette or by the coffee machine while Diana and Jones sit at the little table. Sometimes they talk, about work, like the sting against the Pink Panthers, or occasionally private matters. Other times they just gather in companionable silence.


	6. Au Revoir

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

Author's note: It's a terrible thing to make your friends believe you are dead anyway and I simply refuse to think Neal would be cruel enough to let them live like that for an entire year.

* * *

Au Revoir

* * *

Mozzie was pacing nervously as he waited for his call to get through. Finally it crackled in the line.

" _Moz, you do realize it's past midnight over here, right?"_

"Neal! We've got a problem! The suit hasn't figured it out yet!"

" _Whoa, slow down, Mozzie. What are you talking about?"_

"The suit! Neal! I happened to meet the suit today and he was talking about still seeing you, like, out of the corner of his eye, and at first I played along because, you know, plausible deniability and all that but now the more I think about it I THINK HE REALLY DOESN'T KNOW!"

There was a brief, shocked silence at the other end before Neal's voice came back.

" _No. No, you must be wrong. We are talking about Peter here, he got the key to the container in my effects, how could he not go looking?"_

"I don't know, maybe he was in shock BECAUSE HE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD?! Maybe he just packed everything away because he was GRIEVING? But don't mind me, it's just a thought, you know?"

" _All right, all right, how many more times do I have to apologize for not telling you beforehand, Moz?"_

"Oh, let me think about that. I guess like … forever? But my past heartache aside what do we do now? He invited me to their house, should I just tell him?"

" _No – no, the plausible deniability is for his protection, not ours. As a FBI agent he would catch a lot of heat if it came out he knew I faked my death and didn't report it. Contract or no contract, bottom line still is, I neither served my whole sentence nor got properly released after we took down the Panthers."_

"Then what do we do? We've got to tell him and Elizabeth!"

" _Just let me think for a moment! Moz!"_

"Okay, well, moment's up, Neal."

" _Bordeaux."_

"Uh, no … you are in Paris."

" _I know I am, thank you! But our whole deal started when he caught me the second time, holding the bottle of Bordeaux Kate left me. Okay, here's what you'll do: Buy a bottle of Bordeaux and leave it on his doorstep when you visit them. That in combinations with the fact that you had just been there should jump-start his famous intuition."_

"Right. That's good. I'll go. I'll go tonight. And I'll keep a look on the container to make sure he stops by this time."

" _You do that, Mozzie. Good luck."_

Ending the call Mozzie blew out a long breath and then hurried off to buy the wine.


End file.
